The Prime Minister welcomed President Sassoli of the European Parliament to Downing Street this afternoon.

The Prime Minister stated his preference for leaving the EU with a deal. He emphasised that the UK’s proposal represents a significant step and a reasonable compromise which respects the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, the Single Market and provides for democratic consent in Northern Ireland.

The Prime Minister set out how there is little time remaining to negotiate a new agreement, and so we need to move quickly and work together to agree a deal. He reiterated that if we did not reach an agreement then the UK will leave without a deal on the 31st October.

The leaders discussed the need to approve any revised Withdrawal Agreement in both parliaments.

The Prime Minister also spoke about the generous offer that the UK has made on citizens’ rights and called for other member states to reciprocate the offer for UK citizens living in the EU.

Speaking in Parliament earlier today Minister for the Middle East, Dr Murrison, made the following remarks:

We have been consistently clear with Turkey that unilateral military action must be avoided as it would destabilise the region and threaten efforts to secure the lasting defeat of Daesh.

As members of the Global Coalition, our focus remains on securing the enduring defeat of Daesh.

We will continue to work with the US and other international partners to this end.

The Business and Energy Secretary Andrea Leadsom unveiled last week a package of new measures to support UK researchers and businesses to innovate and embrace the green technological revolution.

The measures build on the government’s record investment in research and development and will enable leading UK industries to seize the opportunities to transform the way that people live, work and travel. It also forms part of the government’s ambition to lead the world in taking action on climate change including by legislating to end the UK’s contribution to climate change by 2050 and boosting the whole clean growth sector by promoting innovation, jobs and export opportunities.

Innovation investment for zero carbon nuclear fusion technology

As part of the UK’s commitment to invest in innovative technologies to help tackle climate change in the UK and across the world, the UK will accelerate efforts to realise fusion energy through a £222 million investment in a visionary fusion reactor design programme, known as STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production).

A world first, the UK will aim to design, develop and build a commercially viable fusion power plant ready to provide energy to the grid by 2040. The 20-year project will create highly skilled jobs across the country and could create a brand-new industry for the UK with global export potential.

In parallel, the government will provide £184m over the next five years to develop new fusion facilities, infrastructure and apprenticeships, centred on the Culham Campus in Oxfordshire. This investment will make the UK a global hub for fusion innovation, support the delivery of STEP and attract private sector fusion companies to the UK.

Electric Vehicles

The government has announced up to £1 billion additional funding to develop and embed the next generation of cutting-edge automotive technologies.

This funding will be used to develop UK supply chains for the large-scale production of electric vehicles and will also be used for further research and development in our world leading research centres.

It will accelerate mass production of key technologies in the UK through major investments in the manufacturing of batteries, electric motors, power electronics, and hydrogen fuel cells, along with their component and materials supply chains.

Boost to UK’s world-leading health technologies and life-sciences sector

While the UK has one of the most successful health and life sciences industries in the world, contributing almost £74 billion a year and close to a quarter of a million jobs across the country, companies in the sector have historically struggled to access the right sort of finance to grow.

The government has announced a new dedicated investment programme of around £600 million to unlock the potential of the UK’s best health and life science innovations, allowing companies to grow and ensure the UK remains a world-leader in life sciences innovation.

The funding will comprise a £200 million investment through the government-owned British Business Bank alongside private sector investment which is expected to contribute a further £400 million, creating high quality jobs and helping UK patients benefit from more ground-breaking treatments and care.

An online service updating the public on major pollution incidents in 6 London boroughs has been extended from today to cover another 16 areas of the capital and large parts of the northern Home Counties.

Anyone with an interest in the environment can sign-up for e-mail alerts on how the Environment Agency is responding to incidents, including river pollution where sewage or another substance has entered the water.

The service has been tested since March in Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest.

Environment officers are currently investigating one of the worst pollution incidents to the River Lee in recent memory. In February 2018, several thousand litres of waste oil entered the Lee in Tottenham.

A joint clean-up from the Environment Agency and Canal and River Trust removed 100,000 litres of contaminated water and 100 tonnes of hazardous waste from the water. This is the type of incident that the new service will cover.

People who want to be kept posted on incident management can simply log on free of charge and submit their e-mail address.

They can select the river or rivers of interest from around 80 in London, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire. The Environment Agency will then issue regular updates. The number of e-mails sent out will depend on the size and scale of the incident.

Including all reports of suspected pollution in London and the northern Home Counties, from smells to fish in distress, the Environment Agency handled more than 55 incidents a month in the year to August.

Sam Lumb, Area Director for the Environment Agency in the northern Home Counties and London north of the Thames, said:

We’re really pleased to be extending this popular service to those with a keen interest in the environment. It means the public can be informed about major water pollution incidents that might affect their property, business, wellbeing or their access to amenities.

We have already run a test service this year after several incidents in the 6 London boroughs that have the River Lee running through them – Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest.

The feedback has been really positive, and a number of community groups asked us to include their local watercourse in the updates.

If, after a 6-month trial period, the alerts have proved popular, there are plans to extend the service in the future.

To report pollution incidents, call the Environment Agency’s 24-hour incident hotline: 0800 80 70 60.

Local authority areas now included in the service: Barking and Dagenham; Barnet; Brent; Camden; Ealing; East Hertfordshire; Enfield; Hackney; Hammersmith and Fulham; Haringey; Harlow; Harrow; Hertsmere; Hillingdon; Hounslow; Islington; Kensington and Chelsea; Luton; Newham; Redbridge; St Albans; Three Rivers; Watford; and Welwyn and Hatfield

Areas partially covered: Brentwood; Central Bedfordshire; Chiltern; Dacorum; Epping Forest; Havering; North Hertfordshire; Richmond upon Thames; South Bucks; Spelthorne; Stevenage; Uttlesford; and Windsor and Maidenhead

This notice was served to Johnston Agri Supplies by a VMD inspector during a routine inspection.

The following contravened the Veterinary Medicines Regulation (VMR) 2013:

• The failure to maintain proper records of supply for POM-VPS products
• The supply of POM-VPS products from a vehicle without a Suitably Qualified Person (SQP) prescribing the product or allocating it from the registered premise

The improvements required are:

• Evidence of fully traceable records for all POM-VPS sales, including; name, address, date of supply, product quantity and batch numbers
• No POM-VPS products to be delivered or supplied without being prescribed by an appropriately approved SQP and allocated from the registered premise.

This improvement notice has been complied with.